


Of Old Regrets and New Beginnings

by bfketh



Series: Of Dark Memories and Bright Tomorrows [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst, Bad Stuff Applies to the Past Lives, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Smut, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-04
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2018-02-07 10:35:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1895880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bfketh/pseuds/bfketh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In their past lives, Eren and Levi said goodbye with things still unresolved between them.</p><p>Eren thought that would be the end of it, but centuries later and worlds away, they meet again by chance.</p><p>Maybe this time, without the obstacles of war and rank, they can finish what was interrupted so long ago.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Old Regrets and New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> I am evil.
> 
> I'm also on tumblr at http://bfketh.tumblr.com/

"Eren...?"

My eyes shot open from where I'd started to doze off. The wooden chair was uncomfortable, but after five days I'd gotten used to it, just like I'd gotten used to the faint scent of sickness and underlying rot that hung in the air like a pall, despite the windows flung wide open in an attempt to bring a fresh breeze into the room.

"I'm here, Heichou." I moved the chair closer to the bed, taking the hand that Levi extended shakily toward me. I tried to ignore how weak his grip was, the same way I tried to ignore the empty spot under the blankets where his right leg _should_ be, tried to ignore the unnatural black color his flesh had started to turn along the edges of his wounds on his hip and side, and tried to ignore the fever spots burning bright red on his cheeks in contrast to skin that had gone even paler than before, so pale it almost looked translucent. As if I was already looking at his ghost.

No. Don't think like that.

Levi looked up at me, and although his eyes were bright with fever and pain and something else that I couldn't quite place, I was relieved to see that there was sense in them. All too often in the past few days he had awoken from sleep only to be lost in a fever-fueled delirium, seeing and talking to people that weren't there, that hadn't _been_ there for a long, long time.

"Eren," he repeated, a sad, wistful tone that I didn't like echoing in his voice, "I'm sorry."

"Huh? What are you talking about? You don't have anything to be sorry for."

He barked a short, pained laugh, "I've got a lot of shit to be sorry for." His smile faded, and he let go of my hand to reach up and cup my cheek, "I'm sorry that I won't be able to keep our promise."

My eyes went wide at his words before I shut them tight and started to shake my head in denial, "No, Heichou-"

"Eren." The sudden sharpness of his voice brought me up short, "Drop the damn formalities. The least you could do is call me by my name while I'm lying on my fucking deathbed."

"Stop it!" The last of my frayed temper snapped, "Don't say that! You're not supposed to-" My words cut off, silenced by a knot of fear and grief in my throat that tightened until the only sound I could make was a strangled sob as I toppled from my chair and onto my knees. I buried my face in the bed next to him, letting the tears flow freely as I felt a hand rest lightly on my head.

"You really are still just a kid, even if your body has grown up," his words were harsh but his voice was gentle, and I looked up to meet calm, grey eyes that regarded me fondly. As I thought that this might be the last time he ever looked at me like that, my chest constricted in pain. It was like a knife had stabbed through my heart, but worse. After all, I could heal a stab wound. Weapons never even left scars behind.

But people did.

"Levi, please," I was begging now, tears streaming down my face, "You can't die. You can't. You're Humanity's Strongest. You're supposed to live. It's over now, and you were going to...we were..."

"Shh. I know. I'm sorry." He slid his hand down to the back of my neck, "Come closer. I can't really move right now."

I obeyed, following the gentle tug of his hand until my face hovered inches above his. Levi lifted himself up, connecting our lips.

It was my first kiss.

It only lasted one brief moment before Levi was dropping back down to the mattress. He closed his eyes, his breath coming in quick, shallow pants as even that small expenditure of energy seemed too much for him. I felt fresh tears spring to my eyes, "Please, Levi. Please don't leave me."

He opened his eyes to look up at me, "There isn't anything either of us can do to stop that now, Eren. At least we could say goodbye; that's more than most of the others were able to get." He reached up, brushing away the moisture on my cheeks, "Hey, can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Smile for me."

"I don't think I can."

"Please. I want to remember your smile, so that when we meet in the next life, I'll know who you are." His voice was quiet now, and his eyes were starting to go glassy, but I could see the fight in them, see him struggling to stay with me.

I brought my hand up, covering his where it lay trembling against my face and lacing our fingers together, "Do you really believe that? That this isn't the end?"

A quiet snort, "Of course. There has to be something better out there than this shithole of a world."

I smiled then, through the tears, through my breaking heart, and said the words that Levi had always stopped me from saying before, when he was my superior officer and I was his soldier, when he refused to cross the line between us, no matter how badly we knew we both wanted to, "I love you, Levi."

 

_"I...love...you...too... Eren..."_

Levi's last words echoed in my memory, mixed in with the sound of the waves pounding against the sand.

Months of traveling and mapping the world, with no signs of any Titans, and we'd made it to the ocean that Armin's book talked about, and the other three were waiting for me further down the beach, out of sight.

I'd kept my promise to Armin that we'd see the ocean together one day. I only had one last promise to keep.

Well, make that two.

The angle was awkward, but I managed it, pressing the cool steel of the gun to the nape of my neck.

I smiled, and this time there were no tears.

"I'll see you in the next life."

I squeezed the trigger.

 

I jolted awake right before my body hit the floor, barely stopping myself from yelping at the sudden impact. Looking over at Armin's bed on the other side of the room revealed that I hadn't needed to bother keeping quiet; it was already empty and neatly made. A look at my phone showed a text from him saying that he'd left to help the professor he TA'd for grade finals. Mikasa would be gone by now, too; Saturday was her busiest day at the dojo with several junior classes to lead. She wouldn't be back until dinner.

Untangling myself from the blankets, I sat on the floor and leaned my head back against the bed, feeling tears sting the corners of my eyes. That damn nightmare again. As we'd found the other trainees, the worst dreams of my past life had faded away. All except one.

Maybe because I still hadn't found him yet.

We hadn't found anyone outside of the 104th. Maybe the veterans didn't want to be found.

Maybe they hadn't been reborn.

A few tears slid down my cheeks, and I scrubbed them away, feeling my face already sticky with drying salt. I'd been crying in my sleep again. I pushed my hair back, noting how long it was getting as I did so, and hoped that Armin had already left before my nightmare had started. Not that he would say anything either way; it was an unspoken agreement between all of us that we never talked about our worst memories.

I sighed and pushed myself to my feet. The entire apartment was dead quiet with Armin at the university and Mikasa at work. Deciding that the last thing I wanted was to mope around alone after that nightmare, I brushed my teeth, took a quick shower, and got ready to head out. I still hadn't bought Christmas presents for Mikasa and Armin yet; with them both busy, today would give me a perfect chance.

After I was dressed, I pulled my hair back in a loose half-ponytail to keep it out of my face. I made sure I had my keys and my wallet, and then I grabbed my coat and left.

 

Instead of going to the mall closest to our apartment, I headed to one a bit further west because I remembered they had a specialty tea shop there that carried a blend Mikasa liked. I picked some up for her when I got there, along with a set of ceramic cups. Armin's present was easy, too. A quick trip to a bookstore netted me a book on oceanography that I'd seen him drooling over a few days ago. As I left, reflecting on the fact that my best friend was an even bigger nerd in this lifetime than he'd been in the last one, a commotion coming from around the corner caught my attention.

"I don't know why I let you herd of unrepentant morons drag me out here."

"Come on, don't be so grumpy, Big Bro! We're getting you something for your birthday, remember?"

"Hey, stop yanking my arm like that!"

I nearly dropped the bags I was holding, remembering Mikasa's present just in time. I crept toward the intersection in the mall, my body half buzzing with nervous excitement and half filled with a cold dread that I was just imagining things.

"Aw, you know that we know you secretly love us, right?"

"The fuck- Get off of me, you shitty four-eyes!"

Yeah, that definitely wasn't my imagination.

I poked my head around the corner, and my focus was drawn to a group of eight people standing about fifteen feet away with their backs to me, all of whom except two were instantly familiar.

The others, I would be happy about finding later, but for now, all my attention was taken by a short man in a dark trench coat in their midst. His black hair was styled in an undercut that was just a tad too long to be considered military, and he was currently trying to shake off a taller brunette woman who was draped over his shoulders while also trying to get his arm free from a young woman that had her red hair tied in two pig-tails.

He glared at the other five people standing off to one side, "Farlan, Petra, you other idiots, stop laughing like you're gonna shit your pants and _help_ me."

The two women let him go after he grumbled a bit more, and they skipped off ahead of the man with the rest of the group while he stood back and straightened up his clothes. I took the opportunity to step forward while he was temporarily alone, softly calling his name as I closed the distance between us, "Levi."

He whirled to face me, eyes wide in surprise, "Eren?"

The next moment, strong arms were wound tight around me. In return, I gripped his shoulders, holding on as if I was afraid he'd disappear if I let go. He pulled back, eyes bright with unshed tears as he stared up at me. He reached up and swiped one gloved thumb along my cheekbone. "Tch. You're still a crybaby, I see."

I grinned down at him, "Look who's talking."

"Cheeky brat," he pinched my face, and my grin stretched wider. His own lips started to twitch upward, "That's the smile I wanted to see."

"Levi, I-"

"Levi! Where'd you go?!" I was cut off by Hanji's voice echoing down the corridor. Levi swore under his breath and broke away from me. He grabbed my wrist and started to drag me away from the others.

I trotted along behind him, "What...?"

"I want to be able to spend at least a little time talking to you. They're all nosier than a dog that's just discovered a new shit; if they see you, I won't be able to get a word in edgewise."

 

We ended up at a Starbucks, lodged into a booth in the back corner. Despite saying he wanted to talk, Levi was quiet for a long time before he finally said, "You're older than I expected. I didn't think I'd be able to start looking for you for another six or seven years."

I sipped on my coffee, "Everyone I've found has the same names and the same birthday, but we aren't all the same age compared to each other. Jean, Armin, and I are, but Mikasa's a year older. And Ymir's only three years older than us when she should be an old woman. Armin has some ideas why, but I usually go cross-eyed about the same time he starts babbling about quantum field theory." I paused, realizing something, "Wait, six years? How old are you?"

"Twenty-nine. I'm turning thirty soon." He grimaced, "Which is why those assholes are making such a big fucking deal about it."

"I'm twenty-two. I'll be graduating college this spring."

From there, our conversation flowed easily into talking about what had been happening in our lives. I told Levi about school, and he talked about the IT company he'd started up with Hanji and his old squad. The two people I hadn't recognized turned out to be old friends of his that had joined the Scouting Legion with him. Eventually, we grew silent again, but it was comfortable, familiar. I was reminded of long evenings spent in Levi's office reading or servicing my gear or simply looking out the window while he filled out paperwork.

Thinking about the past reminded me of the nightmare again, and I found myself just staring at Levi's face and watching the slow, steady rise and fall of his shoulders as he breathed. He set his coffee down and raised one slender eyebrow, "You look constipated. What's wrong?"

I shook myself and smiled, "Nothing. Sorry. I just... I had a bad dream last night, and it's still bothering me a little, that's all."

Grey eyes stared into my own. I saw understanding flicker in them, followed by a brief glimpse of sadness, "Eren..."

"No, no. It's okay, really." Feeling bold, I reached out and took his hand where it was resting on the table. He'd taken his gloves off when we'd come into the coffee shop, and his skin felt slightly cool to the touch, like it always had. I squeezed his hand lightly, "I'm just really glad you're here. I missed you."

Levi squeezed back, looking at our joined hands. His bangs hung down, obscuring his face, but I could still swear I saw a light pink color dusting his cheeks. "Me, too."

 

In the days that followed, I spent a lot of time with Hanji and the Special Operations squad, catching up. I also got to know Isabel and Farlan. Hanji was particularly excited to hear about the mapping expedition after the war. If anyone noticed that my stories got a bit vague after we reached the ocean (because after that I was relying on secondhand information from the other three), no one said anything.

And then there was Levi.

Although I ended up at his apartment often, things never really progressed much beyond what they had that first meeting. We were both skittering on eggshells when we were alone together, each of us too afraid to be the first one to bring up the past. Yet without talking about it, there was no way for us to move forward, either, for everything that we had been, everything that we had the potential to be, was inextricably wound up in that past life, starting with a child looking on with shining eyes as his hero rode past in a sea of green cloaks and ending with a confession carried along on the last shaking breath of life.

 

On Christmas Eve, Hanji had a party at her and Moblit's place for everyone we'd managed to find so far. At one point during the evening, I saw Levi talking in a corner to Mikasa, but I didn't think much about it at the time. At least, not until the party was starting to wind down, and Levi pulled me off to the side.

"Go get your coat. I'm taking you home."

"Huh? But I came here with Mikasa and Armin; they'll be expecting me to leave with them."

He crossed his arms, "I already told them. Come on, we need to talk, and I'd rather not do it here."

I tried to look into his eyes, but he looked away. I swallowed heavily, a feeling of anxiousness settling over me, "Okay."

The car ride back was quiet. Levi kept his eyes straight ahead on the road, and he was gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were turning white. I was momentarily confused when Levi pulled into his apartment complex's parking garage instead of driving to my place, but when he shut off the car and got out, I followed him silently up to his apartment. After I took my shoes off at the entrance, he motioned for me to sit on the couch. He sat down beside me, still not looking at me. I chewed on my lower lip, trying to figure out what I'd done to make him angry. Finally, I just asked, "What's wrong?"

"I talked to Mikasa."

I tilted my head, "Yeah, I saw you talking to her. So?"

Levi looked up at me, "I just want to know why."

"Why? Why, what? I don't understand what you're asking."

" _Why_ , Eren. Why did you...?" Levi brought his hand up, tracing his fingers along the back of my neck, and suddenly I understood what he was asking. "Please don't tell me it was because of me." His voice sounded strained, as if he was just barely keeping it from breaking through sheer force of will.

I shook my head, "No. Not mostly, anyway." I closed my eyes and leaned into Levi's touch, "I didn't want to be used as a weapon."

"What happened?" Levi's voice gently prodded me.

"Jean and Historia tried to keep it from me, but they were already arguing with the Military Police and the nobles about what was going to be done with me. Some of them wanted me executed or locked up. Some of them thought I should be kept as a reserve, to help put down any uprisings or unrest; they were afraid that people would be harder to control without the threat of Titans looming over them anymore. Others, mostly the nobles, wanted to experiment on me. The idiots wanted to figure out how exactly humans were turned into Titans in the first place."

Levi hissed in a sharp breath at that, "Those fucking inbred bastards. Figures they'd try to find a way to undo what better men and women than them had bled and died for."

I chuckled, but there wasn't much humor in it, "That was part of why we were sent to explore outside the walls: to get me out of the capital. They were protecting me, but it wasn't right. They both had so many more important things to do than worry about some monster."

Levi's hand tightened around my nape, "Shut the fuck up. You're not a monster." He leaned in and pressed his forehead against mine, "Not now, and not then."

My mouth twisted upward into a wry smile, "Levi, _you_ called me a monster."

He sighed, and I felt his breath puff against my lips, "I was wrong. I was wrong about a lot of things."

"Like what?"

"For starters, I should have spent more time doing this."

The next moment, his lips pressed into mine. He shifted on the couch, throwing one leg over my lap so that he was straddling me, and my hands came up automatically, gripping Levi around his waist. His teeth scraped against my lower lip, and I opened my mouth in response. He pressed his tongue into my mouth, warm and wet, and I moaned into the kiss as heat started to pool in my abdomen.

Levi pulled back from the kiss, smirking, "You know what else I should have done?"

I slid my hands down to his hips, "Hm, what?"

He leaned in close to my ear and murmured, "I should have just bent you over my desk and fucked you senseless at least once." He lightly sunk his teeth into my earlobe and I shivered.

"You could..." I swallowed as my throat went dry, "You could now. If you wanted."

"Tempting, but I want to take my time tonight."

As the implications of what Levi said sank in, I felt myself blush, which was quite a feat, considering that all the blood in my body was rushing south. "L-Levi..." I breathed out, tilting my head back as his lips moved from my ear to the underside of my jaw.

I barely stopped myself from whining when he pulled away to look into my eyes. He brushed back a strand of loose hair from my face, "Is this okay?"

Not trusting my voice, I nodded. Levi kissed me again, slow and sweet and _perfect_. Just as I thought that I was going to melt into the couch, he rolled his hips forward. I broke away from him with a gasp as I felt the evidence of his arousal pressing against my own. He did it again, and again, and I buried my face in his shoulder. “F-fuck…” I breathed out as I struggled to not come in my pants like a horny teenager.

I felt more than heard a chuckle rumble through his chest, "Not here."

"Huh?"

He stood up, grabbing my hands and coaxing me to follow him. "If you think I'm letting you get sweat and spunk all over my Italian leather upholstery," he shot at me over his shoulder as he led me down the hall and into his bedroom, "you're out of your fucking mind."

I started to laugh as he shut the door behind us, but it was abruptly cut off when Levi yanked me down by the front of my shirt and crashed his lips into mine. The kiss was demanding, all teeth and tongue, and we were both breathing harder when Levi released me.

He cocked his head up me, an expression of annoyance flitting across his face, "You just had to hit a growth spurt at seventeen in this life, too."

"Um, sorry? It's not something I can really help."

Levi snorted, muttering something about being surrounded by six-foot-tall giants, but I honestly wasn't paying attention because at that moment his hands were busy undoing the buttons of my shirt, and then he was sliding it off my shoulders as his lips trailed down my chest and his tongue did absolutely _wicked_ things against my skin.

His teeth caught my nipple, and I gasped as the mixture of pleasure and pain made my now hard dick twitch in my pants. Levi chuckled darkly and started to back me up until we were both toppling onto his bed.

I ended up on my back with Levi straddling my hips. He smirked and ran his hands down my chest, "I could get used to this view." He gaze raked my body, and his expression froze. He brought his left hand down to the area just above my hip, tracing the faint white line that stood out against my tan. "You have a scar."

I laughed, "Yeah. Knife fight in Tijuana."

He just narrowed his eyes at me, in an expression I'd once described to Jean as his "don't feed me shit and tell me it's chocolate" face.

I laughed again, "I had to have an appendectomy a couple years ago. It's lame, but I kinda like it." I smiled and brought my hand down to where his fingers were still lightly tracing the scar, "I like to think of it as proof of my humanity."

"Eren..." Levi entwined his fingers with mine and lifted my hand up to his face. He pressed his lips into my palm and then my wrist. "Fucking sentimental..." He trailed off, the words disappearing as he murmured against my skin.

There were few words after that, mostly just soft gasps and quiet moans as one by one the rest of our clothing joined my discarded shirt on the floor. Soon enough, Levi was kneeling between my legs as he worked two lube-slick fingers deep inside me while I writhed and clutched at the blanket underneath me.

“Shit, look at how easily you’re taking my fingers,” Levi stared down at me and slowly added a third finger. I threw my head back and keened, grinding my hips down further against his hand. He licked his lips, “You’ve done this to yourself before?”

“Y-yeah…”

“And do you think of me when you do it? Do you think of me taking you apart, of what it would feel like with my dick inside you?” He curled his fingers upward, brushing against the sensitive bundle of nerves there.

I let out a low moan as my hips jerked at the sensation, “All the…all the time.”

Levi bent over me, looking into my eyes, his own with the pupils blown so wide they were nearly black with only a thin sliver of the grey iris remaining, “I used to hear you. After I locked you up for the night, and you thought I’d left, I’d hear you moaning and calling out my name.”

I smiled and ran my hands up into his hair, brushing my fingertips over the shaved part on the back of his neck. Well, as long as we were sharing secrets… “I always knew you were still there.”

I watched his eyes and nostrils flare, and then he was kissing me, hard, his tongue rapidly thrusting in and out of my mouth. Once he’d managed to make us both breathless, he sat back up and pulled his hand away. He grabbed the condom he’d pulled out of the nightstand with the lube earlier, opening the packet and rolling it down his length. He used his dirty hand to slick himself up, and then he was pressing into me, one of my knees braced against his shoulder.

It was a different feeling than his fingers, fuller, the tight ring of muscles burning slightly from the stretch as he eased himself in. Levi moved agonizingly slow, running his clean hand down the inside of my thigh and pressing kisses against my knee. He looked down into my eyes, and my breath caught in my throat at the expression on his face. It was soft and tender and almost indescribable, as if he was looking at something incredibly precious.

My chest felt tight and warm, and tears started to prickle at the corners of my eyes. Levi froze, “Eren? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I reassured him, raising myself up far enough to pull him down to me. I kissed him and slipped my leg down from his shoulder so I could wrap them both around his waist instead, pulling him closer to me. I whispered against his lips, “I love you.”

He smiled, one of his rare and beautiful true smiles, and I felt that same tight warmth spread through my chest. “I love you, too, Eren.”

He started moving, rolling his hips in a steady rhythm that soon had me bucking up to meet him, stroke for stroke. The pleasure built up and up, but it still wasn't enough. “M-more,” I managed to breathe out, “Levi…”

He shifted his grip, pulling my hips up and increasing his pace. I arched my back, and his next thrust hit my prostate. I cried out at the stimulation, my nails scratching down Levi’s back. He moaned in my ear and aimed for the same spot again. He shifted one hand away from my hip, wrapping it around my cock which was by now twitching in time to his movements, precum leaking copiously from the tip. He started pumping me, and I was soon reduced to an incoherent, babbling mess, Levi’s name tumbling brokenly from my lips.

“L-Levi… I can’t… I’m…”

“Shh, it’s okay… Come for me…”

One last deep thrust was all it took, and I was spilling out over Levi’s hand as my orgasm tore through me. I could feel my body spasm, and I clung to Levi tightly, as if he was the only thing keeping me anchored to reality.

As I slowly came back to my senses, I realized Levi had stopped moving and buried his face in my shoulder. I brought my hand up, carding it through his sweat-damp hair, “Levi, did you…?”

“Mm,” I felt him nod. “Kinda hard not to, when you clamped around me like you were trying to milk me.” His voice sounded sleepy and satiated at the same time. He pushed himself up and smiled at me, “Come on, we need to get cleaned up.”

“I don’t think I can move.”

“You don’t have to.” Levi leaned over and gave me a quick peck on the lips before he stood. The next thing I knew, his arms were under me, and he was lifting me in a princess carry. It was at that moment that I realized, as he carried me off to the bathroom, that he was just as strong in this life as he’d been in the last one.

 

Later, we had both showered and climbed into Levi’s bed with a clean blanket replacing the soiled one. I was running my hand idly down Levi’s right hip, still not quite believing that this was all _real_ , when I noticed his eyes glittering at me in the moonlight streaming in from the window.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just…” I snuggled closer to him, breathing in his scent and letting out a quiet sigh, “Just…you’re _here_. With me.” I snaked my arms around him and pressed my face into his chest, “I missed you so much…”

He squeezed me back, his arms warm around my shoulders. I felt a hand come up and start stroking my hair, smoothing it over the back of my neck. “I know. I’m sorry it took me so long to keep my promise.”

“But you did keep it,” I lifted my head up enough to grin at him, “and then you kept it again while we were in the shower.”

Levi snorted, and then he kissed the top of my forehead, “Shut up and go to sleep, Bright Eyes.”

That sounded like an excellent idea.

 

There were a lot of things I could have woken up to on Christmas morning: winter sunlight streaming through the window, Levi’s arms still warm around me, the smell of coffee coming from the kitchen, or even frantic phone calls from Mikasa wondering why I hadn't come home last night. (Although the lack of calls suggested that she knew _exactly_ why I hadn't, and I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or terrified.) Instead, what I got was…

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

My eyes jerked open, blearily focusing on Levi who was sitting up and glaring in the direction of the bedroom door. I lifted myself up to peer around him. “Hanji?”

“Good morning, Eren! Merry Christmas!”

“Um, Merry Christmas…”

“Don’t fucking encourage her.” Levi lifted up a hand to point at Hanji, “Erase it.”

“Nooooo, I can’t. This is valuable scientific evidence!” Hanji took a step back toward the doorway, and I noticed the cellphone she was holding behind her back.

“What the fuck… Evidence of what?”

“That you actually do have a heart!” With that, Hanji spun around, dashing into the hallway.

Levi swore and jumped out of bed to chase after her, seemingly not caring that he wasn't wearing anything.

As I listened to the thumping, shrieking, and swearing coming from the living room, I got up and dressed in the jeans and shirt I'd been wearing last night before going out into the hallway. When I left the bedroom, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I ignored it and walked into the living room.

Hanji was sprawled on the floor, laughing, while Levi straddled her and frantically scrolled through her phone.

Hanji cackled even louder, “Too late! I already sent it out in a mass text!”

Levi swore again and dropped her phone on top of her. He stood up and walked away, stopping in front of the hall to turn back to Hanji, “Stay right there. I am going to get dressed, and then I am coming back to kill you. I will skin you alive, strangle you with your own guts, and then _set you on fire_.”

Hanji just gave him a contemplative stare, “You know, I can’t decide if you being naked right now makes that threat more or less scary.”

Levi rolled his eyes and stalked back to the bedroom, muttering about shitty glasses, invasions of privacy, and how you should never give spare keys to lunatics.

Hanji stood up, casually brushing herself off. I shot her a worried look, “Um, Hanji? Are you sure you shouldn't leave until he calms down?”

“Oh, he’ll be less grumpy once he gets some breakfast.” Hanji headed for the kitchen, “Come on, Eren. Why don’t you get the table set while I make some pancakes?”

I was about to follow her when I felt my phone start to buzz like crazy. I pulled it out, and scrolled through the text messages. The first was from Hanji and had an image attached.

I opened it. It was a photo of Levi and me, sound asleep. My head was pillowed on Levi’s left shoulder, his arm reaching beneath me and curled up around the back of my head with his fingers buried in my hair. My left arm was draped over his hip, and our right hands were clasped together between us.

I felt myself grinning like an idiot, and I saved it to my phone’s background before I scrolled through my other messages.

 

 **From Mikasa @ 9:46am -** I’m happy for you, Eren. Just let me know if he ever breaks your heart so I can kick his ass.

**From Armin @ 9:46am -** Good luck! I’m here for you if you need anything!

 

 **From Cmdr Horseface @ 9:46am -** There is not enough brain bleach in the WORLD

 

 **From Ymir @ 9:46am -** Woo! Get that booty, boy!

 

 **From Christa @ 9:46am -** Aw, you 2 are so cute!

 

 **From Sasha @ 9:47am -** HA! Con owes me $20!

 

 **From Connie @ 9:47am -** fck, i owe Sash 20 bux

 

 **From Annie @ 9:47am -** Congrats. Also, don’t send me anything like this ever again.

 

 **From Reiner @ 9:47am -** And everyone thought I was joking when I said the ass was a weak point

 

 **From Bertholt @ 9:47am -** Sorry about Reiner. I’m happy for you, Eren.

**From Moblit @ 9:47am -** I’ll talk to Hanji when she gets home.

 

 **From Petra @ 9:47am -** OMG, Eren! Why didn't you tell me?!

 

 **From Oluo @ 9:47am -** I really didn't need to see the Captain like this

 

 **From Erd @ 9:47am -** …Well, this is unexpected.

 

 **From Gunther @ 9:48am -** Congratulations

 

 **From Farlan @ 9:48am -** I’m glad Levi found someone that makes him happy.

 

 **From Isabel @ 9:48am -** Yay! I’m suuuper happy for u both! Also, u know if u hurt him, I’ll have to castrate u, right? (~_^)b

 

I felt arms go around my waist and a pair of warm lips press against my neck. I turned my head to see Levi peering at my messages over my shoulder. He met my eyes, “Our friends are all a bunch of assholes.” He was smiling.

“Yeah, but they’re _our_ assholes, and I wouldn't trade them for anyone.” Levi hummed in agreement and dropped his head to place a kiss on my shoulder.

Hanji called out from the kitchen, “Hey, would you two stop being so disgustingly cute and help me with breakfast?”

“I’m still going to set her on fire.”


End file.
